Mid-life Scramble by Pris Campbell

Mid-life Scramble

She pushes pins
into a doll, lights candles,
recites secret incantations
to jinx the blond-haired
floozy who ran off
with her husband.

Her best friend tells her
it’s a mid-life crisis,
but he could call
the crisis line if that
was the case or go out
and scare girl scouts
or babies.

Halloween night, she drags out
her black dress, the black hat
she found at a garage sale,
and, doll clutched in one hand,
makes the rounds
of the bars, hoping
some man will take her
home with him, build
her up with his lovemaking
til she flies, doll flung high
at the peak of ecstasy,
scattering its revenge
into the coming storm.

img_2555The poems of Pris Campbell have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including PoetsArtists, Rusty Truck, Bicycle Review, Chiron Review, and Outlaw Poetry Network. The Small Press has published eight collections of her poetry and Clemson University Press a collaboration with Scott Owens. When The Wolves Come After You, with Michael Parker, from Goss Publications and Squalls on the Horizon, a book of tanka, from Nixes Mate and My Southern Childhood are her most recent small press books. A former Clinical Psychologist, sailor and bicyclist until sidelined by ME/CFS in 1990, she makes her home in the Greater West Palm Beach, Florida, with her husband.

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